30 Podcast Episodes You Need To Listen To Before You Die

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It was on a road trip to Lake Louise, my girl friend and couple friends in the car. We started listening to a “RadioLab” podcast not knowing what we had got ourselves into. It was an audio movie playing in your mind, we couldn’t stop listening. The type of story where you get to the gas station and stay in the car to hear the end of it, yeah, that good.

It started with RadioLab, then it was Six Pixels of Separation (great for marketers), added the BeanCast (also great for marketers), This American Life came into my life later on, as well as Freakonomics and Planet Money. There were some that I didn’t like at first but grew on me. Skeptoid’s Brian Dunning, not the most personality infused podcast but my god does he do research. It’s a podcast on pop culture, debunking widely held beliefs on pseudo science and anything else people claim to the “the worlds greatest.”

A passive method of learning, podcasts are great to learn while doing other things.

1

RadioLab presents 60 Words. We made a poster about the hero that is featured in this story, Barbara Lee is the most courageous person I know.

2

Freakonomics Presents: How To Be More Productive. One of the most listened to podcasts in the Freakonomics archives, this episode is jam packed with amazing ways to make you more productive.

3

This American Life presents: The Problem We All Live With. One of the hardest podcasts to get through but you need to listen to it. It’s amazing, you’ll cry, you’ll get pissed off about our world, but what you won’t be is ignorant. Racism is live and well in our world and we need to change that.

4

RadioLab presents: Ponzi Supernova, an interview with Bernie Madoff. You actually get to hear Bernie Madoff talk in this episode, it’s very surreal. Plus a really fascinating ending that you’re probably going to talk to people about after.

5

Freakonomics Presents: An Interview With Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Not every day you get to hear an interview with Mark. Definitely worth a listen!

6

RadioLab Presents: Placebo. RadioLab episodes have a habit of making you think about things for a long time after. This episode really is about the power of the mind.

7

Planet Money: The Prisoner’s Solution. An amazing entrepreneurial story from an unusual suspect. What a great story!

8

The Tim Ferriss Show presents: Ricardo Semler and The 7 Day Weekend and how to break the rules. Interesting to hear how Ricardo runs his business and how he lives his life now. He’s been a hero for a while now, I steal ideas from Ricardo all the time for StratLab.

9

This American Life presents The Psychopath Test. You’ll be all the rage at the water cooler the day after you listen to this one. Another fascinating look into the human mind.

10

RadioLab presents: Eye In The Sky. You’ll look at security and Policing a little different after this one. A wild ride about how they keep some of the most dangerous cities safe.

11, 12, 13

Freakonomics Presents: Bad Medicine

Part 1: The Story of 98.6
Part 2: (Drug) Trials and Tribulations
Part 3: Death By Diagnosis

A deep dive into the world of healthcare. It’ll make you sad, it’ll open your eyes, and it’ll leave you with a lot more questions on Medicine and Health.

14

The Six Pixels of Separation Podcast Presents: Seth Godin wants you to be missed when you’re gone. I’ve listened to the Six Pixels Podcast for years now. A good ol’ Canadian Mitch Joel knows his stuff and talking with Seth is a timeless conversation.

15

This American Life Presents: Harper High School. The story of a high school where last year 29 students had been shot on different occasions. It’s a surreal episode that make you look back at your high school experience and realize you were probably lucky.

16 & 17

Freakonomics Presents: Why Hate The Koch Brothers? I did hate the Koch Brothers before this episode, my reason? Well they supported political folks down south that just didn’t seem right. But after listening to one of the Koch brothers get grilled by Dubner you you at them in a different light.

18

RadioLab Presents: Playing God. A Really hard episode to get through. Humbles you to understand what some folks have gone through during a disaster.

19

Planet Money: The Scariest Thing In Hollywood. An unconventional business model that works REALLY well!

20

RadioLab presents: From Tree To Shining Tree. You’ll learn more about trees in this episode than a grade 12 Biology Class!!

21

The Tim ferriss show: Cal Fussman: The Art of Listening. I could listen to Cal talk all day, he has some of the best stories to tell. Such a great episode.

22

Freakonomics Presents: How to save $1 Billion Without Even Trying. What type of cold medication do you buy? I bought the no name stuff today. Listen to the episode, you’ll understand why.

23

This American Life Presents: NUMMI. A story about what GM tried to but in the end didn’t learn from Toyota. Any business person needs to hear this story. Listen right meow!

24

The Tim ferriss show: Shep Gordon – The King Maker on His Best PR Stunts, Hugest Failures, and Practical Philosophies. This is the episode that introduced me to Shep. I bought the book, read the book, loved the book. Shep is the Supermensch!!!

25

Planet Money presents: Humans vs Robots. A neat little story on whether robots are going to take over our lives any time soon.

26

The Six Pixels of Separation Podcast Presents: Digital Darwinism with Tom Asacker. This episode made me buy Tom’s book “The Business of Belief”.

27

Planet Money Presents: What happens when you just give money to poor people? An actual experiment on the non-profit world asking the question would it be better just to give poor people money? The answer you find is interesting!

28

The Tim Ferriss Show Presents: Tony Robbins on Achievement vs Fulfillment. This episode made me think long and hard about the relationship of achievement vs fulfillment. He has a story on Robin Williams that will stick with me for a long time.

29

Skeptoid Presents: 10 Great Science Hoaxes. Skeptoid is a different podcast. If you subscribe and listen regularly this podcast will make you smarter.

30

Freakonomics Presents: Food + Science = Victory. You literally get some great ideas from this podcast. I experimented with Vodka Pie crust after this episode. True story!